Madhya Pradesh: Rs 30,000 worth of onion crop stolen from farmer's field

At a time when onion prices are skyrocketing up to Rs 100 per kg in the country, a farmer in Richha village of Mandsaur has alleged that his onion crop worth Rs 30,000 was uprooted and stolen from his field by thieves. Farmer Jitendra Kumar has registered a complaint with the police in this regard and said that onions were sown on 1.6 acres of land and as he was planning to harvest the crop, it was stolen by thieves.

'He has filed a complaint that onion crop worth Rs 30,000 has been stolen'

The Station House Officer visited the farm and has begun an investigation in the case. "He has filed a complaint that onion crop worth Rs 30,000 has been stolen. SHO has gone to his farm, further action will be taken as soon as we gather more details," Assistant Superintendent of Police said. Several such cases of onion theft have been reported from various parts of the country. In Madhya Pradesh, a truck carrying onion worth Rs 20 lakh was stolen on its way from Nashik to Gorakhpur.

Government reduced stock holding limit for retailers and wholesalers

The government is continuing its efforts to curb rising onion prices, reduced the stock holding limit for retailers and wholesalers to 5 tonnes and 25 tonnes, respectively. Onion prices have been ruling high for the past few weeks even as various measures have been initiated to increase the supply of the key kitchen staple. Earlier, retailers were allowed to hold onion stock up to 10 tonnes and wholesalers up to 50 tonnes. Now, they can hold half of it, as per an order issued by the Consumer Affairs Ministry. The revised stock holding limit would not be applicable for imported onions. The Centre has banned onion exports and decided to import 1.2 lakh tonnes, besides imposing stock holding limit on traders. Sources had on Sunday said that state-owned trading firm MMTC, which is importing onion on behalf of the Centre, has placed an order of 11,000 tonnes of the edible bulb from Turkey.

READ | AAP leader writes to Paswan on onion price hike

READ | Photo of an unguarded sack of onions in Mumbai outside restaurant goes viral

Lok Sabha witnessed an uproar on onion price rise

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday witnessed an uproar followed by cross allegations between the treasury and opposition benches, mainly the Congress, on issues of onion price rise. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury launched an attack on the Centre's policy raising issue of price rise of daily used items like onions, other vegetables, and pulses. "There is fire inside the markets across the whole country as the prices of all items have been increasing, especially onion. Centre imports onion on the price of Rs 67 per kg which is being sold in the market at the price of Rs 130-140 per kg," Chowdhury said.

READ | Onion price reaches Rs 11,000 per quintal mark in Nashik

READ | Soaring onion prices: Cabinet Secretary reviews situation with state chief secretaries

(With agency inputs)